Knowledge is Power – Decades review

Knowledge is Power – Decades is a quiz game from Wish Studios that uses the PS4’s PlayLink technology. PlayLink titles are focused on social gaming and they allow players to use their smartphones or tablets as controllers.

Decades is the second Knowledge is Power game to be released. This one focuses on pop culture and entertainment from the last four decades. The game allows 2-6 players to take control of a bunch of wacky characters to participate in a quiz. The winner is the first player to scale the Pyramid of Knowledge.

Before you can start, each player needs an iOS or Android smartphone or tablet. They also each need to download the Knowledge is Power – Decades app onto their device. After booting up the game on your PS4, each player needs to run the Decades app to join the game. To do this you need to ensure that your devices are all connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the PS4. If you don’t have a Wi-Fi network available there’s an option to turn on the PS4’s Wi-Fi hotspot.

Watch the Knowledge is Power – Decades trailer below:

Some PlayLink titles I’ve tried have ended in frustration to get each player up and running but I praised the recent Chimparty which just worked. Unfortunately with Knowledge is Power – Decades I had issues when players were using a mix of iOS and Android devices, despite them all being on the same Wi-Fi network as the PS4. In the end I switched to the PS4 hotspot and it all just worked as expected. Once each player connects they need to enter their name and choose a character. If you grant the game access to your device’s camera you can also take a selfie to be used for the face of your character.

Once the game starts players take part in twelve rounds to decide the winner. On the way to the final Pyramid of Knowlede round there are a couple of special bonus rounds. Most of the rounds involve players answering a question correctly from a choice of four answers. Each question is related to a particular decade and points are awarded based on how quickly each player gets the right answer. Due to the questions being set in the different decades I found that younger players were at a big disadvantage. The game works best when played with older players of a similar age.

You need to watch the TV to get the question and then the game lets you pick the correct answer on your mobile device. This works ok but does require a lot of looking back and forth between the two screens. As you get the answers to choose from it also makes things rather easy, again particularly for older players. Due to how the scoring works it always ends up being who is quickest than who knew the right answer.

To complicate matters are things called PowerPlays. These are mostly designed to slow your opponents down. Before a turn you each pick a PowerPlay and then a player to use it on. This takes too long and is a bit silly with just two players as you constantly have to pick each other. Once used they tend to affect your chosen opponents device. So for example one makes the answer screen covered in slime that you have to wipe away to see the answers, another hides each answer behind a zip that needs swiping and there’s one that forces you to click padlocks to unlock the answers.

The bonus rounds are a little more interesting and one has you swiping left or right to categorise answers. Another puts answers on a wheel that you have to spin to find them. The final round places players on a pyramid based on how well they did. As you answer questions you climb the pyramid based on how well you do and the winner is the first to the top.

If you’re looking for an occasional quiz game to play and have a decent knowledge of the ’80s, ’90s, ’00s and 2010s then Knowledge is Power – Decades is worth a look. It works well enough but there’s too much focus on the characters and PowerPlays which detract from the actual quiz. You spend more time waiting than answering questions which eventually gets frustrating. If you already own the first Knowledge is Power there isn’t enough new here to warrant a purchase.

Knowledge is Power – Decades was reviewed using a digital code supplied by the publisher.